Getting pregnant again after preterm labour at 23 weeks + 5

[stace1986]

I gave birth at 23 + 5 and unfortunately my little boy only lived for a short time. I was in labour for 3 days, my waters didn't go till I was actually pushing during the birth. I am not planning on getting pregnant again for a while as OH and I need time to come to terms with everything and we still don't know what caused me to go into labour yet, although we may never know that.

I was just looking for other peoples experiences on getting pregnant after a loss and whether they found it difficult to get pregnant again and how long they left it before trying again. I haven't found the aftercare very good from the hospital, no advice about bleeding/milk/how long before having sex etc.

Would also be nice to hear some positive stories from those who have suffered a loss and gone on to have healthy babies.

Thanks in advance.

Hi stace, sorry to hear about your little boy and that you haven't had the best of aftercare.

Last year we had to terminate our pregnancy at 23 weeks due to our baby boy having very severe abnormalities not compatable with life.

We gave ourselves 2 months and decided if we were feeling up to it we would start to ttc again. We were pregnant again within 4 months and this healthy baby is due next week. It was stressful waiting to see if this baby had the same abnormalities and now it's still difficult to get too excited about this baby until they are safely here.

We have had fantastic consultant care throughout and presumably you would too on your next pregnancy. Push for this care and make sure you get all the reassurance you need.

My advice is take your time and listen to your feelings.

So sorry to hear about your loss

I had a much later preterm labour with my first baby (who was fine). I was told that a common cause of preterm labour is what is charmingly called an 'incompetent cervix'. I therefore had my cervix measured at 20 weeks this time, and if there had been any problems they would have put in a stitch which would increase the chances of carrying to term.

In my case I was told that my cervix looks normal and it is therefore likely that my prem labour was a one off and I should go to term this time.

I hope this helps you and best of luck.

So sorry to hear about your loss. Have you had/will get a review with a consultant? We were offered one after our loss, even though we knew why our baby was so ill. There is also a bereavement midwife at the hospital, though personally we found the chaplain we saw for the funeral more helpful. Might be worth asking your hospital if those things would help?

I have taken years, literally, to conceive my first 2 children but conceived the second month of trying ( not straight away) after our loss. We will be under a consultant this time and will have scans every 4 weeks until 20 weeks if we get that far. So if you get pregnant again worth asking to be referred to a consultant straight away. All the best.

Thank you all for your replies.

Rooiboos we have been told we will get an appt with the consultant but could be up to a 6 week wait. We don't know what caused me to go into labour yet so I am hopeful they have some answers for us, but also prepared for the fact we may never know why it happened.